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AN 



ADDRESS, 

DELIVERED AT BEDFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 



ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 



INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN 



MAY 19th, 1850. 



^>y 



BY ISAAC O. BARNES 



BOS TON: 

PRINTED BY ALFRED MUDGE, 

' No. 21 School Street. 



1850. 



ADDRESS. 



This is an occasion of unusual interest to all of us. It is 
an important epoch, not only in the history of our town cor- 
poration, but of the nation, and even of the world, which can 
scarcely be passed in silence, or regarded indifferently. It is 
a point of time, when all seem inclined to pause and review, 
as carefully and as much as it may be done, the events of the 
past. 

The end of the present year completes a period of one 
hundred years, comprising the last half of the eighteenth and 
the first half of the nineteenth centuries ; and it may be well 
said to have been infinitely more eventful than any other 
equal portion of time since the apostolic age. One hundred 
years ago, Europe, — enlightened, refined, intellectual Europe, 
— had scarcely emerged from barbarism. George the Second 
sat upon the throne of England. The bloody massacre of 
Culloden had just been enacted ; and had released the then 
new House of Hanover from further fear of the return of the 
Stuarts. Louis the Fifteenth reigned in France. Pope 
Benedict, in the eternal city. Elizabeth was Empress of 
Russia. Philip the Fifth was King of Spain ; and Frederick 
the Great, and Theresa ruled, with despotic sway, in Austria 
and Germany. 



(4) 

The population of Great Britain was not half as large as 
that of the United States is now. The whole number of 
British colonial subjects, on this continent, including those 
upon the adjacent islands, was less than three millions. 
There was no such nation as the United States ; there were, 
instead, a few feeble and unimportant English colonies, made 
up of exiles from the mother country; having fled hither to 
escape persecutions, the most cruel, vindictive and unnatural. 
These colonists were still struggling with poverty, and still 
alarmed by constant incursions of the yet unconquered 
savage. The Canadas and Louisiana belonged to the 
French. That adroit and ambitious nation, had, long before, 
established a line of missionary stations from the gulf of the 
St. Lawrence to the falls of St. Mary's, and thence to the 
mouth of the Mississippi : the Jesuits were employed as their 
agents, — an order of the Roman Catholic Church most 
efficient and most faithful to their engagements. It is true, 
at that time, the mission-house had declined, and given place 
to the military garrison ; but the subsequent conduct of the 
savage, along the French frontier, proved, but too clearly, 
that he had been taught to hate the English, and stimulated 
to the most ferocious deeds of cruelty on our borders. The 
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, concluded only two years before, 
in 1748, while it was said to have secured only a " hollow 
peace " to Europe, really aff"orded no safety whatever to the 
British colonists here. 

A hundred years aro, the New Hampshire troops had just 
returned gloriously triumphant from the capture of Louisburg. 
A Portsmouth merchant, William Vaughn, had planned this 
expedition ; Geo. Whitfield, the celebrated English preacher, 
then in this State, had furnished this motto for the flag of 
the New Hampshire regiment, viz : " Nil despcrandimi 
Christo duce.^^ It was, in fact, a religious, and anti-Catholic 
crusade. So were all the inter-coloniai wars, in which our 
fathers were engaged, on this continent. Hitherto, England 
had been a second-rate power ; now, since the death of Louis 



(5) 

the Fourteenth, the splendor of the Court of St. Cloud began 
to pale : the relative strength of the two kingdoms had just 
been subjected to a severe test, — the French had failed to 
restore Charles Edward, the grandson of the renegade James, 
to the throne of his ancestors, — Catholic supremacy on the 
island of Great Britain was at an end. Soon the great 
struggle, on this continent, between these mighty antagonists 
was to come : the tempting prize was all the rich alluvial 
lands in the great valley of the Mississippi. It was soon to 
be decided, once and always, whether the French and Cathol- 
icism, or the English and Protestanism, were to be in the 
ascendant, and control the destinies of this nation. 

A hundred years ago, Washington was a youth, just old 
enough to be enrolled in a military train-band ; the elder 
Adams was not enough of a boy to labor in his father's shop ; 
Jefferson was a mere child, and Madison and Munroe were 
unborn. A hundred years ago, and Wolfe and Montcalm were 
yet to fall in deadly strife before Quebec ; the French were 
to be routed, to lose the mastery of the Canadas and Louisiana, 
and, finally, a footing upon the western continent. 

A hundred years ago, and Louis the Sixteenth, and the 
hapless Maria Antoinette, were yet to fall under the axe of 
the guillotine. Robespierre, Marat, and Danton, were yet 
guiltless of the blood of their countrymen. Napoleon and 
Wellington were not yet ; the fields of Marengo, of Auster- 
litz, and Waterloo had no bloody celebrity. 

A hundred years since, and our colonies had not felt the 
oppression, and encountered the hatred of the mother country. 
The battles of Lexington, Bunker-Hill, Saratoga, Trenton, 
and Yorktown, were yet to be fought. Our own Stark had 
not yet won immortality at Bennington ; nor had our Langdon, 
Pierce, Poor, Cilley, Sullivan, and last, though not least, our 
own townsman, John Orr, and hosts of others, yet earned the 
meed of praise, which is, and ever will continue to be, 
awarded to their patriotism and their valor. And less than 
half a hmidred years since, this county of Hillsborough could 



(6) 

not boast of the heroic achievements of the gallant, but now 
lamented McNeil, nor the fearless Miller. Nor could we speak 
of the fresher laurels, which have just been gathered, by the 
younger Pierce ; and by another son, as brave and as chival- 
rous as the best of them, Bowers, of Nashua. 

But to come to the subject which to-day more particularly 
claims our attention. 

A hundred years ago, there were residing within the limits 
of this town, then known as Narragansett, No. 5, some fifty 
families, comprising from two hundred to two hundred and 
fifty souls. 

These families were scattered along the hill-side, hid away 
in the sunny nook, by the meadow-patch, or buried among 
the dark pines on the border of the great river, which forms 
our eastern boundary. They were an honest, industrious, 
frugal, faithful and pious people. Principally foreigners, or 
of immediate foreign extraction ; they came here for the en- 
joyment of civil and religious liberty. In their own country, 
they could not lift up their voices, in praise and thanksgiv- 
ing, to that Omnipotant Being, from whose boundless benifi- 
cence comes every good and perfect gift ; they could not bow 
down in humble adoration of their Creator ; unless these acts 
were performed after the strict formulas of like Church of 
England. They must have suffered here, for many years, 
all the privations incident to a frontier life ; and yet finding 
out, as they did," gradually, the resources and capabilities of 
the country, they must have cherished strong hopes for the 
future. Alas ! such is the inevitable fate of man, that no one 
of them can be here to-day, to see their anticipations con- 
firmed, or their hopes justified. No living soul, of all who re- 
joiced together, when the civil authorities granted the prayer 
of their petition, for an act of incorporation, giving them a 
new name, and enlarged powers and importance as a people ; 
not one living soul of all of them, is left, to join with us, this 
day, in mutual congratulations for the successful issue of that 
embryo effort at self-government. The primeval rocks indeed 



remain ; here and there, a sturdy oak of the olden time still 
stretches forth the same branches, which sheltered our fathers 
from the summer's sun, and which have, so far, defied the 
wintry blast. The placid Merrimack still glides gently by 
us ; but no man, no woman, no animated being, that had ever 
floated on its surface, or laved in its waters, is alive, to-day, 
to render thanks for this, among the thousands of Heavens 
blessings, which have been bestowed upon us. 

•' Where are the birds that sweetly sang, 

A hundred years ago ? 
The flowers, that all in beauty sprang, 
A hundred years ago ? 

The lip that smiled, 

The eyes that wild 

In flashes shone 

Soft eyes upon, — 
Where, where, are lips and eyes, 
The maiden's smile, the lover's sighs. 

That where so long ago ? 

Who peopled all the city's streets 

A hundred years ago ? 
Who filled the church with faces meek, 
A hundred years ago ? 

The sneering tale 

Of sister frail. 

The plot that worked 

Another's hurt, — 
Where, where, are the plots and sneers. 
The poor man's hopes, the rich man's fears, 

That were so long ago ? 

Where are the graves, where dead men slept 

A hundred years ago ? 
Who, whilst living, oft-times wept, 
A hundred years ago ? 

By other men, 

They knew not then, 

Their lands are tilled. 

Their homes are filled. — 
Yet nature, then, was just as gay. 
And bright the sun shone as to-day, 

A hundred years ago." 



(8) 

■f 

I abstain at this time, purposely, from attempting anything 
like an outline, even, of a history of this town, because that 
task has been appropriately assigned to a committee of your 
citizens, and we all anticipate great pleasure in soon being 
able to avail ourselves of the result of their labor and 
research. 

I may be permitted, however, to say as much as this, that 
the territory was granted by the " Great and General Court " of 
Massachusetts, not far from one hundred and twenty years 
ago. Included in the same grant, was land enough for six 
other toAvn-ships. This grant was made to the soldiers, who 
had served in King Philip's, or the Narragansett War, and to 
their surviving heirs at law, In June, 1733, it seems, these 
grantees, in number, about eight hundred and forty, met, on 
the town-common, in Boston, for the purpose of dividing 
equitably, the property, thus given to them. They formed 
themselves into seven seperate societies, and each society 
organized and chose an executive committee, to look after its 
interests. One of these societies was composed of such of 
the grantees as resided principally in Boston, Roxbury, Dor- 
chester and in that neighborhood. These executive commit- 
tees afterwards, namely, on the 17th of October, 1733, met 
by appointment, in Boston. The numbers of the several 
town-ships, from number one to number seven, were placed 
in a hat, and Col. Thomas Tileston, of Dorchester, one of 
our committee, drew No. 5, known as Souhegan-East, before 
that time. It embraced all the land now within the limits of 
Bedford, and also that part of Merrimack north of the Sou- 
hegan River. 

If this grant was the price of patriotism, it was an act of 
tardy justice to the parties to be rewarded ; for the Narragan- 
sett War had long since ended. The treacherous and vindic- 
tive Philip, of Mount-Hope, had been hunted down and 
destroyed, sixty years before. The dreadful massacre of the 
young men at Bloody Brook, and the terrible penalty after- 



(9) 

wards inflicted upon the savages, at Turner's Falls, were, even 
then, tales of other times. But whatever was the motive or 
the cause of this grant from Massachusetts, this was the 
origin of Bedford. With very few exceptions, the original 
proprietors of this town sold out their interest in it, at an 
early period. They never came here to reside permanently. 
And I believe it would be difficult to find, to-day, more than 
two or three families, in the whole town, who are directly 
descended from any of the grantees of Narragansett, No. 5. 
I know of but two ; one is the Chandler family, who are 
the lineal descendants of Zachariah Chandler, Esq., of Rox- 
bury, Mass ; and the other, the family of Gardner Nevins, 
Esq., who are the descei^idants, by the mothers' side, from 
John Barnes, of Hingham, Mass. The town was named by 
Governor Wentworth, no doubt, in honor of His Grace, the 
fourth Duke of Bedford, then Secretary of State, in the 
government of His Majesty, George the Second.* 

Who were its first inhabitants? What was their origin ? 
And what, if any, were the peculiarities of their character 
and condition ? 



*For the gratification of persons cuiious in such matters, it may be slated 
that the name Bedford, is said by certain very early authoriiies, to be derived 
from a Saxon word, siiinifyinfj '' beds, or inns upon a ford. " The situation 
of the very ancient and important town of the same name, in Enjrland, on 
both sides of the river Ouse, probably contributed to this interpretiition of the 
word. Later writers, say, it was derived from " L5uda" or " Beda," which 
means a petty kmir. The people of Hedl'oid, in Enjiland, adopt the latter, 
as the true oiiiiin of the name of their tov\n. It miiy be added, that, al- 
though Gov. Wentworth may have given the name to this town, yet, it is 
altotrether probiible, that the inhabitants tliemselves first sufjiiested it, in hon- 
or of the noble Duke, who had for a lono; time most fiilhfully and honorably 
administered the government of the Island, from which their iiiimediate ances- 
tors had emigraied. The Duke of Bedford, held the officeof Lord Lieutenant of 
Ireland lor many years. The Bedford t'.imily, or perhaps we should say, the 
Russell fimily, is one of the oldest and ever bus been, ;ind is now, one of the 
first families among the Enjilisli nobility. The Present Duke Francis, has never 
been very actively engaged in political affairs, yet he is a man of great energy 
of character and entei prise, and will leave to his descendants, vast and valuable 
estates, redeemed and improved by his industry and his genius, as well as a name 
worthy his noble ancestry, liis son and only child, WiJliain, Marquis of 
Tavistock, is now lieir to the Dukedom. Lord John Russell, tlie present 
Prime Minister of England, is a younger brother of the Duke of Bedford. 

2 



( 10) 

I have preferred that a general answer to these inquiries 
should occupy much of the space assigned to me, upon this 
occasion, rather than to enter upon the discussion of topics, 
which, however they may befit the time and place, belong, 
much more appropriately, to others. 

In the first place, then, almost the entire population of Bed- 
ford, was, at the time of its incorporation, of Scottish descent. 
There were a few, and but very few families from the col- 
ony of Massachusetts, and, of course, of English extraction. 
There may have been also one or two Irish families, — of 
pure Milesian blood. And there were some African Slaves. 
Of this last description of persons, there were, in this town, 
as shown by the Official Records, at the commencement of 
the revolution, ten. But a large majority of the people, of 
those who made the first openings, run the lines, marked 
the trees, — petitioned Governor Wentworth and His Council 
for an act of incorporation, on the 10th of May, 1750; — 
built the first meeting-house, and the first school-houses, and 
first dragged a seine in the Merrimack for shad and salmon, — 
of those, in short, who first came here with a fixed and set- 
tled purpose to abide permanently and to make this place 
their home, — trace their origin to Scotland. They are some- 
times called Scotch-Irish. The reason for this peculiar 
designation, Avill soon appear. It is true that nearly all this 
class of settlers, or their fathers and mothers, came to this 
country, directly from the great Northern Province of Ulster, 
in Ireland. Yet they were, nevertheless, not Irishmen. No 
Irish blood ran in their veins. The two races were and are 
entirely distinct ; as unlike as it is possible they can be, with 
the same general features, and the same color. They were 
no more Irishmen, than is a Connaught or Munster-man, who 
works upon our Rail-ways, a yankee ; no more than is the 
European or American missionary or merchant, who takes up 
his residence at Macao, Hong Kong, or at the factories around 
Canton, a Chinaman. The Scotch and the Irish are as 



(11) 

dissimilar as possible, in their manner of life, their habits of 
thought and action, and especially in their forms of religious 
worship, and in their religious creed. The Scotch are zealous 
Protestants, and Presbyterians. The Irish as zealous Roman 
Catholics. The Scotch were the beseiged, and the Irish the 
beseigers at Londonderry. One party fought desperately at 
the Boyne, Limerick and Aithlone for William, and the other 
as desperately for James the Second. To this general rule 
there are, to be sure, some rare exceptions. There were Irish- 
men who joined the party supporting William and Mary, and 
they have been denounced as traitors and heretics for it ever 
since, by their countrymen. I suppose there were also Roman 
Catholic Scotchmen, though I think it would have been 
diflicult to have found many of the latter, who professed the 
faith of St. Peters', at, or near the time of the last English 
Revolution. The protestant Irish are known to this day, by 
the term of " Orangemen." But this name was not applied 
to them, until many years after William, the Prince of 
Orange, had ceased to govern England, and to exist. The 
bitter prejudices, and hatred which have been engendered, in 
the old country, between the Orangemen and the Catholic 
Irish, have never abated to this day. And we have frequent 
occasion to lament the intemperate and foolish broils, which 
so often occurs between them, even in this country, where 
both parties are at full liberty to consult their own tastes and 
their own consciences, as to the manner of their religious 
worship, or their religious belief. 

But, the inhabitants of Bedford were neither Orangemen 
nor Catholic Irishmen. They were Presbyterians and Scotch- 
men. Names which are almost synonymous. Born, and 
educated among these people, if I cannot say exactly with 
Byron, " I am half a Scot by birth, and bred a whole one," I 
can appreciate the sentiment of the generous-hearted Jenny 
Deans, when she said to her countryman, the Duke of 
Argyle, referring to her dress, which was the national costume. 



(12) 

as she was suing through his influence, for the pardon of her 
unfortunate and condemned sister, '' I thought your Grace's 
heart would warm to the tartan." 

I can never forget, that my earliest and most intimate 
friends and associates claim a common father-land with 
Bruce and with Burns ; that they could speak of the wild 
highland chiefs as of their own "kith and kin" — that they 
could talk of John Knox, as the founder of their church, — 
that the " Cotter's Saturday Night," was their poetry, — 
that Sir Walter Scott, and the authors of ''Douglas" and the 
" Gentle Shepherd," were as much their countrymen, as if 
they had lived on the same side of the Atlantic. 

I can never forget how readily, in the dreamy days of our 
youth, we could transport ourselves, in imagination, to that 
cold, but romantic region of Britain, — " where not a moun- 
tain lifts its head unsung," — that we could climb over the 
Pentland and Grampian hills ; fly o'er the " peak of Ben 
Lomond," — take a sail upon Loch-Katrine — inspect the 
ramparts and battlements of castles Stirling and Dunbar — 
search the rooms in Holyrood House — find the blood-stains 
of Rizzio — deplore the fate of the unfortunate, perhaps, the 
guilty, Mary ; and repeat with the poet, — 

"She was a woman, and let all 
Her faults be buried with her." 

We did more than this. We stole away, again and again, 
into that fairy-land, which, the belief in the supernatural, 
has, for ages, firmly established in Scotland; there we danced 
with witches and warlocks, and consorted with Brownies, 
Kelpies, and Water-wraiths : or, under the guidance of the 
great poet of nature, we hied away to the castle of Macbeth, 
became familiar with the " wierd sisters ;" " the white 
spirits and black, red spirits and gray," who first seduced 
the Scottish Thane, by fair promises and deceitful predic- 
tions, into murdering his kinsman and his sovereign; and 



(13) 

then, like the arch-fiend they served, left him in his 
extremity, miserably to perish, the victim of his own 
and his wife's wicked ambition. We could see, as palpably 
as could the guilty assassin himself, the air-drawn dagger 
that informed him of the " bloody business " upon which 
he was intent. We beheld also the ghost of Banquo, whose 
ugly visage and ill-timed visit so marred the feast, and 
frightened the host from his propriety. We saw " Birnam- 
wood come to Dunsinane," and heard the last agonizing cry 
of the dying tyrant. 

We could scarcely fail to be reminded of the national 
character of our friends and neighbors, by listening to their 
sotigs. It is true there was no Wilson, nor Sinclair, nor 
Dempster to sing them ; yet, I assure you, "John Ander- 
son, my Jo," has been given here with great effect, we being 
the judges. How often has our boyish patriotism been 
aroused by *' Bruce's Farewell ; " — the sentiment of the 
" Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon," has heewfelt and appre- 
ciated here, as well as the " Farewell to Ayershire," and 
" Flow gently, sweet Afton : -' — no flower was ever so sweet 
as the " Flower of Damblain," as we have had it, with its 
sweeter accompaniments. And was there ever sung or said 
a nobler sentiment than — "A man 's a man for a' that, and 
a' that." 

Need any one be told who composed the church and 
congregation here, when he, who ministered so many years at 
the altar, who solemnized the marriage-contrc.cts, who officia- 
ted at the holy rites of baptism, who lifted up his hands in 
prayer, at the bed-side of the sick and the dying, was none other 
than a lineal descendant of that Highland clan, whose name 
he bore, and who "ever scorned to turn their backs on friend 
or foe." And of whom the song says: — 

" While there's leaves in the forest and 
Foam on the river, 
Mac Gregor, despite them, shall 
Flourish forever." 



(14) 
Again the Caledonian characteristics appeared as we saw, 

" On a winter's night, our granum spinnin, 
To make a web of good fine linnen." 

But, alas ! many of us are compelled to acknowledge that 
these youthful remembrances are fading out ; that we have 

" Wandered mony a weary foot, 
Sin' auld lang syne," 

and that we are only too happy to avail ourselves of an 
occasion like the present, to come home, and say, " we can- 
not but remember that such things were, and that they were 
most precious to us." 

As for myself, I adopt with all my heart, and assume as 
my own, the answer of the noble Duke, to the affectionate 
Jenny Deans before referred to. " MacCullum More's heart 
must be as cold as death, when it does not warm to the 
tartan." 

Our earliest inhabitants were then, Scotch, in their origin ; 
but they were called Scotch-Irish. Let us turn back to the 
written history of this peculiar people, and see what we can 
learn of them. We must commence as early as the reign of 
James the First, in 1603. Elizabeth, his immediate predeces- 
sor, had carried out, during her time, the rigorous and unre- 
lenthig policy of her father, Henry the Eighth, in harassing and 
persecuting her Catholic subjects ; and especially, the Irish 
portion of them. By this means, the spirit of rebellion was 
fostered, not subdued, in that unfortunate Island. James, had 
not seen the end of the second year of his reign, before he 
was called upon to crush the conspiracies of Tyrone and 
Tyrconnel of Ulster, and soon to put down the rebellion of 
O'Dogherty and others. These conspirators and rebels, hav- 
ing either fled from their country, or having been slain in the 
several contests in which they were engaged, a very large 
section of the Province of Ulster, covering six counties, 
equal to a half a million of acres, reverted to the crown. 



(15) 

It became very important to James, to repeople this deserted 
territory, not only with loyal subjects, but with those of the 
Protestant faith. 

For the early history of the Scotch-Irish, both while they 
were at home, and since their emigration to America, I am 
greatly indebted to Dr. William Henry Foote, of Virginia, 
who has, very recently, given to the world, two large volumes, 
one, entitled Sketches of North-Carolina, and the other, 
Sketches of Virginia ; both of which, are filled, with highly 
interesting matter ; chiefly touching the history of the Pres- 
byterians, who came to this country at a very early period. 
He says, " that in the fulfilment of this design," that is, in 
furnishing Ulster Province with Protestants, " he (James) 
planted those colonies, from which, more than a century 
afterwards, those emigrations sprang, by which western Vir- 
ghiia and the Carolinas were in a great measure peopled." 
He might have included also, Londonderry, Bedford, New 
Boston, Antrim, Peterborough and portions of the inhabitants 
of many other towns, in this State, as well as of many 
towns in Massachusetts and Vermont. " The project of 
James," he goes on to say, " was grand and attractive, and in 
its progress, to complete success, formed a race of men, law- 
loving, law-abiding, loyal, enterprising freemen ; whose 
thoughts and principles, have had no less influence in mould- 
ing the American mind, than their children to make the 
wilderness blossom as the rose." 

The King seems, very naturally, to have selected his own 
countrymen, the Scotch, as far as he could, to take possession 
of these vacant lands which were now desolate, over-run 
with wood and infested with noisome wild beasts. But the 
Scotch, needy as they were, very reluctantly complied with 
the wishes of their sovereign ; so forbidding was this Irish 
province, in all its aspects, that it was deplored as a calamity 
to be compelled to remove thither : and it was often sneer- 
ingly and reproachfully said of the unfortunate or the guilty, 



(16) 

"Ireland will be your latter end." In 1626, it began to 
improve rapidly; — an unusnal religious excitement having 
prevailed throughout the province, attracted the attention of 
the Presbyterians of Scotland, and many ministers and their 
congregations hastened to Ireland, where, by their labors and 
unwearied efforts, they ultimately helped to lay the founda- 
tion of the Irish Presbyterian Church. One of the immediate 
results of this revival, was the establishing the Antrim 
Monthly Meeting, which afterwards came to be a very 
interesting and important religious association. The pro- 
vince of Ulster contrasts very favorably with any other portion 
of Ireland to this day. The General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church of Ireland lately addressed a letter to 
the General Assembly of the same church in the United 
States; in which they say, "that, in Ulster, where their 
principles are more widely disseminated, the recent visitation 
of the famine and pestilence was much less severe, than in 
those provinces in which the Roman system still unhappily 
maintains its degrading and paralyzing ascendancy." Macau- 
lay says, " that whoever passes from a Roman Catholic to a 
Protestant county in Ireland, finds that he has passed from a 
lower to a higher grade of civilization ; " and this is con- 
firmed by the statements of all observing travellers. In 
1631, having heard of the success of their puritan friends, 
the Independents, or Separatists, who had settled at Ply- 
month eleven years before, and learning also that the Salem 
settlement, then three years old, was prosperous, the Pres- 
byterians of Ulster anxious to escape, 'if possible, from the 
injustice of the perfidious Charles the Second, whose reign 
had just commenced, began to make preparations to remove 
to America. Agents were appomted, who proceeded to 
London, to procure a passage to New England ; but for some 
reasons, unexplained, the project Avas defeated for a time. 
Soon after this, " they sent over an agent who pitched upon 
a tract of land near the mouth of the Merrimack river, whither 



(17) 

they intended to transplant themselves." This fact is stated 
by Cotton Mather. The expedition, which was undertaken 
in pursuance of the report of this agent, failed, as we shall 
see ; but it is more than probable, that this was the cause of 
the settlement of our Londonderry, nearly a century after- 
wards : for we find the Ulster emigrants, who landed in 
Boston and Portland in 1718, immediately inquiring for lands 
on the Merrimack river, and there they did ultimately settle 
and remain. 

But the attempt to reach New England, which was made 
in 1636, failed. The vessel, which sailed from Lock-Fergus, 
a port very near Belfast, in L'eland, on the 9th of September, 
was of one hundred and fifty tons burthen ; she received 
on board one hundred and forty emigrant passengers, — 
her name was " The Eagle Wing." Four of her passen- 
gers were distinguished preachers, — Blair, Livingsto7i, 
Hamilton, and McClelland. Among others on board, there 
were families of the name of Stuart, Agnew, Campbell, 
Summerville and Broivn. She was bound to New England. 
She was following directly and immediately in the track of 
the " May-Flower.''^ Her passengers were to have settled 
upon the Merrimack, — our Merrimack river. The '■^ Eagle 
Wing " never reached her port of destination ; but we will 
allow one of her passengers, the Rev. John Livingston, to 
give us the reasons for her failure. " We had," he says, 
" much toil in our preparation, many hindrances in our out- 
setting, and both sad and glad hearts in taking leave of our 
friends ; at last, we loosed from Lock-Fergus, but were 
detained sometime, by contrary winds, in Lock-Regan, in 
Scotland, and grounded the ship to look for some leaks in 
the keel : yet, thereafter, we set to sea, and, for some space, 
had fair winds, till we were between three and four hundred 
leagues from Ireland, and no nearer the banks of Newfound- 
land, than any place in Europe. But, if ever the Lord spoke 
by his winds, and other dispensations, it was made evident to 
3 



(18) 

us that it was not his will that we should go to New England, 
for we met with a mighty heavy rain from the north-west, 
which did break our rudder, which we got mended by the 
skill and courage of Captain Andrew Agnew, a godly passen- 
ger, and tore our foresail, five or six of our champlets, and a 
great beam under the gunner's room-door broke ; seas came 
in over the round-house, and broke a plank or two on the 
deck, and wet all that was between the decks ; we sprang 
a leak, that gave us seven hundred, in the two pumps, in the 
half-hour glass. Yet we lay at hull a long time, to beat out 
the storm, till the master and company came, one morning, 
and told us that it was impossible to hold out any longer, and 
although we beat out that storm, we might be sure, in that 
season of the year, to forgather with one or two more of that 
sort, before we could reach New England." The account 
goes on to state, '' that amidst all the fears and dangers, the 
most part of the passengers were very cheerful and confident ; 
yea, some, in prayers, expressed such hopes, that rather than 
the Lord would sufl'er such a company, in such sort, to perish, 
he would put wings to our shoulders and carry us safe ashore." 
Several of the passengers were sickly ; an aged person and 
one child died ; one child was born on ship-board. It was 
baptized by Mr. Livingston, and called Seaborn. After a 
long and most anxious consultation, with a fervent prayer to 
Almighty God for wisdom to direct them, the passengers 
agreed to yield to the earnest solicitations of the master. 
The ship was put about, and re-entered the harbor of Lock- 
Fergus on the 3d of November, having been absent about 
eight weeks. 

The '■^Eagle-Wing" left the shores of Ireland, as did 
the May-Flower those of Holland, with the same high 
purpose, of finding a new habitation, where there was 
^^ freedom to worship God." The " May-Floioer " succeed- 
ed in reaching this continent ; though, it is said, through the 
treachery of her master, at a point, very distant from that, 



(19) 

to which she was destined. The '^ Eagle- Wing" was 
compelled, by stress of weather, to return again to the land 
of religious intolerance. 

The company of pious and devoted ministers, and their 
congregations, who left Ulster, in this vessel, with flattering 
hopes for the future, and who returned disheartened and 
cast down, had yet, in the Providence of God, a great work 
entrusted to their agency. " This company of men," as Dr. 
Foote says, " were, subsequently, the efficient agents in the 
hands of God of embodying the Presbyterians of Ireland, of 
spreading their principles far and wide, and marshaling 
congregation after congregation, whose industry made Ulster 
blossom as the rose. It was better that God's wise Providence 
sent them back to Ireland, and shut them up to the work — 
and last, it was best of all, that they laid the foundation of 
that church, which may claim to be the mother of the Amer- 
ican Presbyterian Church, the worthy child of a worthy 
mother." 

We must now leave, for a while, this little group of pas- 
sengers, who composed the freight which the "Eagle-Wing" 
was too feeble to bear across the broad Atlantic, during the 
Autumnal gales of 1636. We are obliged to leave them in 
bad company, EUid, under circumstances most inauspicious ; 
for we leave them to the tender mercies of the faithless 
Charles the First ; to the uncertain and dangerous discretion of 
the shrewd, ambitious and unforgiving Oliver Cromwell ; 
to the reckless and shameful profligacy of Charles the Second ; 
and to the knavery and stupidity of the bigoted James the 
Second. Meanwhile, we must hasten to the consideration 
of some passages in their subsequent history, immediately 
connected with their actual emigration to this country. 

Pass on with me now, for the space of fifty-two years, 
from 1636 to 1688. James the Second — the great-grandson 
of Mary, Q,ueen of Scots, whom Elizabeth may almost be 
said to have mm-dered from envy, and the son of Charles the 



(20) 

First, who perished on the scaffold, because he kept faith 
with no party, — had abdicated the throne of England. He 
had previously sent his wife, Mary of Modena, and his infant 
and only son, to France. All his relatives had deserted him. 
Even his daughter Anne, and her husband, the Prince of 
Denmark, had fled from his palace in the night. He, himself, 
having seized the great seal of state, stole from his bed- 
chamber at early dawn, hastened to a boat, in readiness for 
him, threw the seal into the Thames and escaped down that 
river. After some further difficulties and delays, he reached 
Paris in safety. His eldest daughter, the offspring of his 
first wife, and her husband, William of Orange, were now 
proclaimed jointly King and Q,ueen of England. 

James, being in France, was urged and entreated, by the 
Catholic Louis, to return to Ireland, from which he had lately 
heard reports favorable to his cause, and to make a struggle 
to re-gain his crown. He at last complied, though with 
great reluctance, and being provided with twelve thousand 
French troops, a train of artillery and a supply of money, he 
landed in Kinsale, Ireland, in March, 1689. Stopping, for a 
very short time, at Dublin, he hastened to the north of 
Ireland, to our Ulster, with his foreign allies, and sat down 
before Londonderry, then in a state of seige. 

You will pardon me, I feel assured, for recalling to your 
recollection some of the incidents, connected with the " seige 
of Derry,''^ when you reflect upon the important bearing, 
which it had upon the character and destinies of our Pres- 
byterian friends in the north of Ireland and their posterity, 
here and elsewhere. 

I confine myself to Graham's account of it. On the third 
of December, 1688, an alarm was spread throughout the 
island, that the Catholic Irish had determined to rise and 
murder indiscriminately the protestants, on the next sabbath. 
The messenger, who carried this news to Derry, reported 
that on his way, he had passed the Catholic troops, and that 



(21) 

their advance guard was close upon the city. All was 
consternation and dismay. There were no military prepar- 
ations for defence. The citizens ran together, each eagerly 
and anxiously inquiring what could be done. Many advised 
to open the gates and give their invaders an honorable recep- 
tion. A few, bolder, and with better judgment, insisted that 
the gates should be shut, and that the soldiers should be 
resisted to the death. Among these were the Rev. James 
Gordon^ of Clondormet, and Horace Kennedy^ one of the 
Sheriffs. At length, there assembled a group of the " Ap- 
frentices " to the manufacture of linen, a large business at 
that time in Derry. These spirited apprentice boys heard 
the discussion of the public authorities, and perceived the 
danger to which the city was exposed. The soldiers began 
to cross the river and approach the walls of the town. 
A few of the leaders of the apprentices immediately seized 
the keys and rushing to the gates, shut them in the face of 
the enemy. 

The seige was now commenced. The entire space, in- 
closed within the walls, was only two thousand feet in its 
longest diameter, and six hundred in its smallest. And yet 
there were shut up in this city, twenty-seven thousand persons, 
who were doomed to endure, for eight long months, famine 
and pestilence, constant exposure to the fire from the enemies 
batteries, and all the concurrent horrors which the imagination 
can conceive to exist under such circumstances. So feeble did 
the defences of the city appear, to De Rosen, the French 
officer, who came over with James, when he first saw 
it, that he exclaimed, with a disgusting oath, that " his 
men should bring it to him stone by stone." The French 
General was mistaken — he knew little of the determined 
energy of the men, women, and apprentice boys, with whom 
he had to contend. Exasperated, at length, that no offer to 
capitulate was made, he resorted to the brutal expedient 
of collecting from Belfast, (distant a hundred miles from 



(22) 

Derry,) and its neighborhood, over four thousand men, 
women, and children, of the Protestant party, without regard 
to condition ; robbed them of their food and clothing, and 
drove them like so many cattle, under the walls of Derry, to 
perish in view of their friends. 

To prevent this inhuman and barbarous destruction of life, 
the authorities of Derry erected a gallows on the walls of the 
town ; sent to De Rosen for a priest to confess the prisoners, 
(some of them distinguished French officers,) assuring the 
general, that they should be hung, one by one, until there 
were no more to execute, unless he permitted the multitude 
under the walls to depart. This retaliatory measure pro- 
duced the desired effect. The Belfast people were released, 
but not till hundreds had perished from starvation and 
exposure. In all the agony and despair of these unfortunate 
beings, while held by the infamous order of De Rosen, there 
were none of them but what urged their friends, within the 
walls, to hold on and hold out, and not to yield in sympathy 
to the sufferings of those on the outside. But I must not 
continue these horrible details. It suffices to say, that after 
having been reduced to the extremity of eating horse-flesh, 
of feeding upon dogs, cats, rats and mice, and when, at last, 
there remained but half a pint of meal to a man per day, 
when the soldiers began to glare upon the citizens, and upon 
each other, with the famished look of starving cannibals, 
the long hoped for relief came. The ships of King William 
hove in sight, with men and supplies. The seige was raised. 
The army departed ; but not until the Catholic party had 
lost nine thousand of their soldiers and more than two hun- 
dred of their officers. 

It would be difficult to find, in the whole history of modern 
warfare, an example of such endurance, of so much personal 
suffering, of such devotion to the cause in which they were 
engaged, as was exhibited -by these resolute Presbyterians in 
the defence of their homes and their religion, at the seige of 
Derry. 



(23) 

The vast importance to the cause of Protestantism and the 
English government, of the successful defence of this for- 
tress, will be appreciated, when it is understood that James 
anticipated its speedy reduction, and had made his arrange- 
ments to cross directly over to Scotland, join the infamous 
Claverhouse, make a rapid descent upon England, and drive 
his son-in-law, William, back to his native Nassau. The names 
of these apprentice boys, who so nobly shut the gates, and 
thus defeated the ultimate purposes of the beseiging party, 
as Graham says, *' deserve to be preserved in letters of gold." 
Many, very many of their descendants, are now to be found 
in this country. They are known to be in Virginia, Ken- 
tucky. Indiana, here in New Hampshire, and doubtless, in 
many other states of the Union. The leaders, and more 
prominent of these young men, were William Crookshanks, 
Robert Sherrard, Daniel Sherrard, Alexander Irwin, James 
Stewart, Robert Morrison, Alexander Coningham, Wil- 
liam Cairns, Samuel Hunt and Samuel Harvey. 

Never were a people more unfortunate after all their efforts, 
than were these brave Presbyterians ! They had held the 
troops of James in check, while they defended successfully 
the last stronghold of King William in Ireland, and until 
Claverhouse had been attacked and destroyed in Scotland. 
They had freely mingled their blood with the waters of the 
Boyne. They had consecrated the '' billowy Shannon," that 
" river of dark mementos," by the sacrifice upon its banks, 
of their dearest friends, before the gates of Limerick and 
Aithlone. They had, in short, expelled James and his allies 
from the land, and were looking with great confidence for 
something like tolerance in religious belief and religious wor- 
ship, from William of Nassau and his protestant wife. But 
they were doomed to the sorest disappointment, and ultimate- 
ly became so disgusted with the calculating and selfish 
policy of William, his unreasonable and unjust demai^ds of 
rents and tythes, as well as with the exactions and persecu- 



( 24 ) 

tions of the Anglican church, which now came to be regarded 
by them, as httle better than the Roman Catholic, that they 
determined, once and forever, to abandon their country, and 
seek refuge in the wilds of America. 

The tide of emigration, now began to flow towards this 
country. " Ship load, after ship load," sailed from Ulster, 
with better success, than had attended the ^^ Eagle- Wing. ''^ 
These vessels reached our shores in safety, and the de- 
scendants of the immigrant passengers, whom they bore 
hither, may be counted to-day, by the thousands and tens of 
thousands, on the broad fields of Pennsylvania, in Virginia, 
in the Carolinas ; in every portion of the sunny South. 
Away across the mountains, in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, 
and everywhere, in the mighty West ; and here, among our 
own Granite-Hills ; and, indeed, in greater or less numbers, 
throughout the entire Union ; the same conscientious, deter- 
mined, unyielding, persevering men and women, as were 
their fathers and their mothers, who sacrificed every earthly 
comfort, in defence of that cause, the nearest and dearest to 
their hearts, the principles of the religion of Calvin and 
Knox. 

The first Presbyterian minister, who came to America, was 
Francis Mackemie ; and the first Presbyterian church on this 
Continent, was gathered by his exertions, in Accomac Coun- 
ty, in Virginia. He assisted also, in organizing churches in 
Maryland, the precise time is not known : but it must have 
been just at the close of the seventeenth century. His name 
indicates his origin. Hh also was from Ulster, and Scotch- 
Irish. Mather says, there were '' Presbyterian ministers, resi- 
ding in New England, before Mackemie's time." But, if 
there were such ministers, they very soon adopted the " Con- 
gregational form of disipline." We know of no earlier 
churches of the Presbyterian denomination in New England, 
than that in Londonderry, in this State, which commenced 
with the town itself, in 1719; and the Federal Street Church, 



(25) 

in Boston, gathered in 1727, the members of both of which came 
from the same common stock, the Scotch-Irish, in Ulster. 
The congregational form of government, was adopted in the 
Federal Street Church, in 1786. It is the same church, over 
which Dr. Belknap, the historian of New Hampshire, was 
settled, in 1787, and subsequently, the late celebrated Dr. 
Channing, and is now under the pastoral care of Dr. Gannett. 

Mackemie's churches were certainly organized more than 
twenty years before either of these. Mackemie was ordained, 
at Lagan, Ireland, as early as 1682. He went first to Barba- 
doeSj and thence to Virginia and Maryland. He, at one time, 
officiated as minister in the church, which he had assisted to 
organize at Snowhill, in Worcester County, Maryland. He 
was a man of extraordinary intellectual "powers, and was uni- 
versally beloved by the people of his charge. Irving Spence, 
Esq., in his letters on the early history of Presbyterianism, 
says " that the memory of no gospel minister was ever held 
in higher honor by an American congregation, than that of 
Mackemie at Snow-Hill. Tradition has made a record of his 
many excellencies, and one generation has uttered his praises 
in the ears of its successor, and you may ever yet hear its 
echo." In the village of Rehoboth, Maryland, near the Vir- 
ginia line, there is, at this day, a Presbyterian church 
organized in the time of Mackemie. Dr. Foote, to whom I 
am indebted for this sketch of the father of Presbyterianism, 
in America, says, " you may find now in Accomac, Virginia, 
a congregation of Presbyterians, rising. Phoenix-like, from 
the ashes of those, who heard Mackemie preach and 
pray." 

Mackemie revisited his native country, in 1704, and in- 
duced other Presbyterian ministers to come and settle in this 
country. Two of these ministers, were NcNisli and 
Hampton. 

Mackemie assisted in forming the first Presbytery in 
America, at Philadelphia, probably in 1705 ; though the first 
4 



( 26 ) 

leaf of the records of that Body is missing, and the precise 
time cannot now be known. The first Presbytery in New 
England was formed in Londonderry, N. H., April 16, 1745j 
by John Morehead, of Boston, James McGregore, of London- 
derry, and .Robert Abercrombie, of Windham, with an elder 
from each of these churches. The first Synod in New 
England was formed at Seabrook, N. H., May 31, 1775 ; the 
first meeting of this Synod was held at Londonderry, N. H., 
September 4, 1775. It was composed of three Presbyteries, 
namely, the Presbytery of Salem, the Presbytery of London- 
derry, and the Presbytery of Palmer ; the Church of Bedford 
was represented there by Rev. Mr. Huston, and belonged to 
the Presbytery of Palmer. 

In 1706, Mackemie and his friend and fellow-laborer, 
Hampton, commenced a journey from Virginia to Boston. 
On their way, they stopped in New York to pay their respects 
to Lord Cornbury, then the Governor of that Province ; they 
were treated courteously and, upon invitation, dined with his 
Excellency at the castle. Afterwards, they were invited to 
preach by some Presbyterians settled in New York, and they 
did preach ; Mackemie in the dwelling-house .of William 
Jackson, in Pearl Street, and Hampton, on the same day, at 
Newton, Long Island. For this they were both arrested, by 
Thomas Cardale, sheriff, on a warrant, signed by Lord Corn- 
bury, charging them with having taken it upon them to 
preach in a private house, without having obtained a license 
for so doing, contrary to the known laws of England ; and 
being, likewise, informed that they were gone into Long 
Island with intent there to spread their pernicious doctrines 
and principles, to the great disturbance of the Church by law 
established ; and directing the sherifi" to bring the bodies of 
Mackemie and Hampton to Fort Anne. They were both 
arrested and impi'isoned in the fort ; indicted by the grand 
jury, and, after suffering a long confinement, were brought to 
trial. The prosecuting attorney called four witnesses, who 



( 27 ) 

had heard Mackcmic preach ; but tlic defendant told him 
they need not be sworn. "I own," said Mackemie, "the 
matter of fact as to preaching, and more than these gentle- 
men could declare on oath ; for I have done nothing therein 
of which I am ashamed, or afraid; but will answer it not' 
only before this bar, but before the tribunal of God's final 
judgment." 

Attorney. You own then that you preached, and baptized 
a child at William Jackson's ? 

Mackemie. I did. 

AWy. How many hearers had you ? 

M. I have other work to do, Mr. Attorney, than to num- 
ber my auditory, when I am about to preach to them. 

AtVy. Were there above five hearing you ? 

M. Yes ; and five to that. 

AtVy. Did you use the rites and ceremonies enjoined by, 
and prescribed in, the book of Common Prayer, by the 
Church of England ? 

M. No ; I never did, nor ever will, till I am better satisfied 
in my conscience. 

The trial proceeded, and, in spite of all the efforts of 
Cornbury and his officers, they were both ac([uitted by the 
petit jury, and set at liberty ; not, however, till they had 
been compelled to pay an exorbitant bill of costs ! 

Would any one believe, now, without evidence which 
cannot be impeached, that such a scene as this was exhibited 
in Protestant New York, under the reign of Q.ueen Anne, 
not one hundred and fifty years ago? while in Catholic 
Maryland a man might live in peace, whether Jew, Moham- 
medan, or pagan, — whether Atheist, Deist, or Polytheist, — 
provided he neither molested his neighbor, nor endangered the 
public moreds. The truth is, that " great moral cataclysm of 
the Reformation," as it was called, so far as all the Tudors 
and Stuarts were concerned, from Henry the Eighth to 
Anne, amounted substantially to this, and nothing more, — 



(28) 

it was a transfer of spiritual power from Rome to London ; 
from the Vatican to St. James's ; from the Pope to the 
Monarch of England. Protestantism was a matter of con- 
venience, merely to the crown. Elizabeth is said to have 
married Protestantism, and to have taken its name ; but, it 
is added, " most of the court Protestantism of her time was 
of a damaged character." It was assumed that the sovereign 
of Great Britain, whoever it might chance to be, man or 
woman, boy or girl, was, jure divitio, the head of the church ; 
from whom eminated, and in whom centered all spiritual 
power, and all ecclesiastical authority ; the head of the 
Church and of the State, was one and identical. The 
immediate government of the church was committed to the 
Bishops, — the lordly prelatical bishops, as they Avere called 
by the Puritans, — the higher order of the clergy. The 
Anglican Church, thus constituted, became, as it was fitly 
denominated, the "queen, mistress, or nothing," and withal 
was a tremendous political engine, with which to govern and 
control the nation. Henry the Eighth wielded this power 
with a frightful energy; "he burned as heretics, those who 
avowed the tenets of Luther ; and hung as traitors, those 
who owned the power of the Pope." He required uncon- 
ditional submission to his authority, as self-constituted head 
of the Church. His successors, down to the period of which 
we are treating, at least, followed his example, so far as they 
had the ability, and circumstances would permit. 

To this church organization and this form of church gov- 
ernment, the Presbyterians dissented from the beginning, toto 
coelo. They never could, nor ever did, admit but one Great 
Head of the church, the Saviour of the world. They never 
could, nor ever did, admit the unscriptural assumption of 
different grades of the clergy. They never could, nor ever 
did, admit the right of the mother church to prescribe the 
forms of prayer and supplication which should be offered at 
the throne of our Heavenly Father. 



(29) 

For this non-conformity to tlie will of tlic Bisliops, they 
have been hunted down, like wild beasts, among their native 
mountains — they have been chained to the sea-shore at 
low-water, and left to drown by the sure reflux of the tide — 
they have been subjected to the excrutiating torture of the 
" iron-boot " — or to the still more exquisite and horrible pains 
of the thumbikin. For this non-comformity, i i matters 
purely of conscience, they have "suffered extremites, that 
tongue cannot describe, and which heart can hardly conceive, 
from hunger, nakedness, lying in damp caves, and in the 
hollow clefts of naked rocks, without shelter, covering, fire 
or food." They fell by the hand of the assassin; were 
slaughtered by thousands, in battle. They have been fast- 
ened together, like dogs in leashes, and driven as a spectacle 
through the country. People have been put to death, for 
daring even to speak to them, in their distress. Fathers have 
been persecuted for supplying the wants of their children, 
and children for nourishing their parents, husbands for har- 
boring their wives, and wives for cherishing their husbands. 
In all these trials, sulferings, privations, tortures, and even 
in the agonies of death itself, they were sustained by their 
own approving consciences, by a steady and unshaken reli- 
ance upon the promises of God, and, above all, by the great 
example of the patient endurance of Him, who died for us 
all, on Mount Calvary. These men and women had sub- 
scribed the national " solemn league and covenant," that 
"copious and poetical creed," that great declaration of the 
independence of the church. They had proclaimed their 
eternal separation, in spiritual matters, from the civil govern- 
ment of the land ; and like the fathers of this American 
Republic, they had pledged their lives, theii- fortunes, and all 
that was dear to them, to the fulfilment of these sacred 
engagements. 

Were the descendants of such a people, and, especially, 
was Francis Mackemie, one of the most talented and able 



(30) 

and conscientious of their sons, to be deterred by the threats, 
or hindered by the malice of a petty colonial governor, from 
fulfilling his mission of preaching the gospel, in its simplicity 
and truth, upon the continent of America ? 

But the time was very soon to arrive, when neither Lord 
Cornbiiry, nor the government of Virginia, nor the Legislative 
nor Executive power of any of the colonies, nor all of them 
combined, could hinder nor prevent the free and unrestrained 
promulgation of the doctrines of Presbyterianism throughout 
the length and breadth of the land. This church was about 
to arise, and, in her strength, to stand boldly forth, and assert 
her rights and defend her doctrines. The people were be- 
ginning to gather around her ministers, and to listen, with more 
interest, and increased attention to their instruction. Soon 
some of her ablest advocates and most eminent teachers were 
to take the field — soon was to arise the first of that series 
of '■'• LiOg Colleges'''' which afterwards proved of incalculable 
advantage to the church, and to the people, as the nurseries 
of sound learning and piety — soon, were to appear, the 
Tennents, father and sons, the Blairs, that " Apostle of 
Virginia," Samuel Davis, our own MacGregors, the Smiths, 
Stanhope, and a host of other able and popular preachers and 
"men of mark." The Presbyterian faith and its legitimate 
fruits came to be better understood and more highly appreci- 
ated — the immediate government of every church by elders, 
chosen by its own members — the perfect equality of the 
clergy — those spiritual judicatories, the church session or 
consistory — the Presbytery or classis — the Synod and the 
General Assembly, rising regularly and gradually, one above 
another, each exercising only such powers, as are specially 
delegated by its own legitimate constituency, and all operat- 
ing as a system of checks and balances upon each other, 
present to the mind a model of republicanism, which it would 
be difficult to excel, in framing a civil code, based upon the 
representative principle, for any people. 



(31) 

Permit me now for a moment, to turn to another and a very 
large and interesting division of the Presbyterian Church of 
the United States ; I mean the accessions which have been 
made to its numbers directly from Scotland. 

The great influx of Scotch emigrants to this country, began 
in 1747. It was the year which followed the battle of Cul- 
loden. It is hardly necessary to repeat a very familiar 
historical account of the ill-advised efforts of Charles Ed- 
ward, the grandson of James the Second, who so ingloriously 
fled from his kingdom, sixty years before, to regain for his 
family the crown, which his ancestor had so foolishly and 
so basely lost. 

With a few friends, a few stands of arms, and very little 
money or means, this enthsiastic young Prince landed in 
Scotland, on the IGth of July, 1745. A portion of the 
Highland clans, and some others from an inherent principle 
or impulse of loyalty for the legitimate heir to the crown, 
and some, perhaps, from a mere spirit of adventure, rallied 
around his standard. At his first appearance, wild and im- 
practicable as his scheme seemed, to the sober and judicious, 
he occasioned, nevertheless, much excitement. It will occur to 
you at once, that this is the same personage referred to in the 
chorus of a popular song of the times, which was " Who'll 
be King but Charlie.''^ George the Second, then King of 
England, became alarmed at the progress of Charles Edward, 
and his followers, and sent the Duke of Cumberland, with an 
army, to chastise the invader, and to punisli his rebellious 
subjects in the north. The hostile parties met at Culloden, 
near Inverness, in Scotland. The party of the Pretender was 
totally defeated ; the principal escaping, barely with his life. 
Cumberland pursued the fallen foe, with unnecessary, with 
even brutal severity, killing in cold blood, the unfortunate 
adherents to Charles, and burning their houses over their heads. 
He received the name of "the butcher,'^ on account of the 
atrocities of which he was then guilty. He carried many of 



(32) 

his prisoners to London. Many were publicly executed, 
as a warning to the rest! of the King's subjects. The offen- 
ders were, however, so numerous, that George 11. at length 
changed his course towards them, and granted a general pardon, 
upon the condition, that they would first take the oath of 
allegiance to him, and his house, and then emigrate to the 
plantations. Preferring expatriation, to an ignominious death, 
they, of course, availed themselves of the royal clemency. 
Soon they began to land on the shores of America, The first 
important settlement which they made, was on the Cape Fear 
river in North Carolina. This settlement proved to be a very 
valuable acquisition to the Presbyterian Church, and ultimately 
to the country. Industry, frugality, intelligence, and conse- 
qently, correct moral deportment, were then, as now, charac- 
teristics of the Scotch. These qualities belonged eminently to 
the Cape Fear settlement. They were strict conscientious 
Presbyterians. They had taken the oath of allegiance to 
their King. It was the condition of their pardon. It will 
not then be thought so Avonderfully at variance with the 
standard of morality, if many of these people are found at 
the commencement of the war of the Revolution, to reluct 
at taking arms against the government they had so solemnly 
sworn to support. Nor will it be considered so uniformly 
an offence altogether unpardonable, if they are at first, found 
to raise their voices and their arms in the cause of their 
anointed sovereign. When we censure, with our accustomed 
severity, all those who did not heartily unite, at the out-set, 
with the popular party of '75, we must remember, that these 
Scotchmen, of all the rest of the world, had the best reason 
to dread the very name of civil war and revolution. Besides, 
the course then adopted, was unquestionably, with many 
of them, the result of an irrepressible feeling of loyalty, as well 
as sense of religious obligation to keep faith with the govern- 
ment, which protected them. Does it become us to stigma- 
tize with opprobrious epithets all those pious and conscientious 



(33) 

persons clergymen and laymen, who fled the country, or 
who refused to lend their aid to the Revolutionary party in 
our incipient struggle with the mother country ? Is it not 
much more charitable, and abundantly more rational to sup- 
pose, that many of them, our own countrymen as well as 
the Scotch, acted from high moral and religious principle? 

We had a remarkable instance of political defection, very 
near home ; our first minister, the Rev. John Huston, refused 
to subscribe to the ^^association tcst.''^ He was the only man 
in the town who did not pledge himself, body and soul, to 
the cause of freedom. Let us, before we utterly condemn 
his course, look for a single moment at the circumstances 
attending his acts. He was alone in his views ; nobody 
sustained him, not a single member of his church or congre- 
gation : look at him when the doors of his church were shut 
upon him, when he was forbidden ever again to ascend to 
the sacred desk ; when the otlicers arrested him, and required 
bonds for his detention within the limits of the county ; 
when he was spurned by his former friends ; when all the 
insults of an excited and indignant people were cast upon his 
defenceless head, — and then say, in candor, whether he 
probably endured all this, simply because he was an enemy 
to a republican form of government ? or rather, whether he 
was not acting under the belief that he was forbidden, by 
one whose commands he dared not disobey, to resist and 
levy war upon the " powers that were." Let us be kind, let 
us be charitable ; let us, at least, be just to the memory of 
our long since departed, sincere, but sadly mistaken, spiritual 
guide and minister in holy things. He has gone, as have 
the early settlers on Cape Fear river, and thousands of others, 
who fell into the same error, to their final account. And 
we, who have been made happy in the triumph of liberty — • 
in the overthrow of despotism — in the glorious results, 
which have succeeded the efforts which they opposed, after 
5 



(34) 

all, feebly and ineffectually, can afford to forget and forgive ; 
" Nil mortuis nisi bomim." 

I am strongly tempted, even at the hazard of your reproof, 
for trespassing too long upon your kind indulgence, to intro- 
duce a single Scotch Presbyterian Emigrant, who came here 
as late as '75, and joined her friends in North Carolina — a 
woman, one whose name has adorned the pages of history 
and of romance, and has been rendered immortal by the best 
pen, that ever described Scottish scenery or Scottish char- 
acter — she is none other than Flora MacDonald. 

Go with me, in imagination, to an island called South-Uist 
one of the Hebrides, near the western shore of Scotland. 
There we shall find, hid away in a cavern, by the sea-side, 
the Prince, Charles Edward, just escaped from the hot 
pursuit of the soldiers and spies of the Duke of Cumberland, 
after the disasters of Culloden. He is here, under the care 
of the Laird of Clanranald, though in imminent peril, every 
moment, of falling into the hands of his enemies, who have 
pursued him like blood-hounds, and are now searching the 
island for his hiding-place. Various expedients have been 
devised to effect his safe removal. In the midst of anxious 
deliberation, among his friends, Flora MacDonald, a relative 
of Clanranald, accidentally arrived on a visit. A young lady 
just returned from Edinburgh, where she had been to be 
educated, beautiful, kind-hearted and devotedly attached to 
the cause of Charles. Her father was dead. Her mother, 
who had married a second time, lived on the neighboring 
Isle of Skye, where Flora was born, and where was then 
her home. 

A romantic scheme was now proposed for the deliverance of 
the Pretender. This was, that he should put on the dress of 
an Irish serving-woman, and leave, for the Isle of Skye, in 
the company of a female. Flora was requested to take the 
principal part in this perilous enterprise. Such was her zeal 
for her fallen, though still her " rightfu' lawfu' " Prince and 



(35) 

heir to the throne, that she consented. With the utmost 
difficulty, the party escaped in the night, in a boat, the Prince 
attired as a female servant, and assuming the name of Betsey 
Bw'ke, with nothing but the feeble arm and woman's wit 
of Flora McDonald, for his protection. They encountered a 
storm of much severity, during the navigation of that fearful 
night. At early dawn the next morning, they attempted to 
land at point Weternish, on Flora's home island. They 
were suspected by some soldiers, who fired upon their little 
bark. They retreated, and soon gained the shore at another 
place, in safety. Here again, in another sea-side cave, this 
young man, the object of so much solicitude, was carefully 
secreted, while Flora hastened to procure food and relief for 
him. By the advice of her friends, as soon as they were 
refreshed, Flora, still accompanied by Charles, in the dress of 
Betsey Burke, made all haste to reach the town of Kingsburg, 
on the opposite side of the Island, a distance of twelve miles, 
which they performed on foot that day. The danger was 
now considered past — the Prince was saved. At parting, he 
kissed his fair guide, and said to her : " Gentle, faithful maid- 
en, I entertain the hope that we shall yet meet in the Royal 
Palace." But they never met again. The poor broken- 
hearted Prince was doomed to die in obscurity. Flora was 
soon after arrested, and with many others who had participated 
with her in this bold and romantic adventure, carried to 
London and imprisoned in the Tower, on a charge of aiding 
and abetting attempts against the life of King George the 
Second. During her imprisonment, many of the English 
nobility became interested in the fate of this high spirited 
and noble hearted girl. Learning that she was a Presbyterian, 
and of course, not a partisan of the Pretender, whose life she 
had saved by her courage and her sagacity, the King was 
prevailed upon to pardon her. She was sent back to her 
native Island, literally loaded with the richest presents. She 
was married four years after her release, to Allen McDonald, 



(36) 

and continued to reside in the Isle of Skye. She became 
the mother of a numerous family, and in 1775, came to this 
country and settled in North Cai'olina. The time of her 
arrival here was unfortunate for her — the Revolution had 
but just begun. Her kinsman, Donald MacDonald, who had 
been an officer in the '45 of her favorite Charles and who 
had taken the oath of allegiance to George the Second, and 
emigrated to save his life, was already a military officer in 
this country, in the King's service, by the appointment of the 
Governor of North Carolina. Flora MacDonald, was therefore 
at once surrounded by such influences, as to induce her to 
lend her aid to the royal party in the Carolinas. Her friends, 
including her husband, who opposed the patriots, were soon 
defeated as disastrously as they had been at Culloden. After 
much suffering, great privations, and pecuniary loss, she, with 
her family, left our shores, for the place, where, thirty years 
before, she had bid farewell to Prince Charles. She had 
hazarded her life, first for the House of Stuart, and then for 
the House of Hanover, and she had the best reasons for 
saying, with the good natured Mercutio, in the play, " A 
plague o' both the houses." She was an exemplary woman, 
in all the relations of life, modest, gentle, and retiring in her 
manners, and Dr. Foote says, " her memory will live in 
North Carolina, while nobleness has admirers, and romantic 
self-devotion to the welfare of the distressed can charm the 
heart," and, adds, " Massachusetts has her Lady Arabella, 
Virginia her Pocahontas, and North Carolina her Flora Mac 
Donald." 

I ought to mention the fact, in this connexion, that in the 
old north state, to this day, the original character, habits, and 
even the language of the Scotch are preserved and contin- 
ued, with less of change, than in any other part of the United 
States. In some of the churches, in the presbytery of Fay- 
ettevillc, the gospel is still preached in the native, tongue of 
the Highlanders, the Gaelic. 



(37) 

It was in Fa^'^etteville where Flora MacDonald resided for 
some time. Her house, which had become an object of great 
interest to visitors, was mifortunately destroyed a few years 
ago, by fire. 

I cannot forego the pleasure of referring to one other 
Presbyterian heroine, who has been connected with events 
of a much more recent date, and the account of whose 
courage and intrepid conduct I have very lately received from 
her own lips, much more in detail, than I can now repeat it. 
Franklin Chase, our Consul at Tampico, just after the battles 
on the Rio Grande, received peremptory orders to leave the 
town and Mexican Territory, in six hours, and not to disobey, 
upon the peril of his life. The order was in direct violation 
of the treaty, between the two countries ; yet from the 
revengeful character of the people, he knew it would be exe- 
cuted to the letter. He was largely engaged in trade. All 
his property consisted of a house, and a store filled with val- 
uable goods. He prepared, of course, to leave all : but his 
wife, Ann Chase refused to go with him. He entreated and 
commanded her, but to no purpose. At length, tearing him- 
self away, he was enabled to reach an American Sloop of 
War, lying in the offing, just in season to comply with the 
tyrannical order of the Mexican General. Mrs. Chase, was 
now left alone. There was not an American in the place. 
She was surrounded by excited and bitter enemies, a defence- 
less woman. But she did not falter or flinch, or droop in 
despondency. She was equal to the emergency. She soon 
began to make preparations to eff'ect the surrender of the town 
to the Naval forces of the United States, then cruising in the 
Gulf of Mexico. She engaged certain Mexican pilots, to 
give her the exact soundings over the bar, at the mouth of the 
river, on which the city stands. With the aid of this informa- 
tion, and an old English chart, she constructed a plan of Tam- 
pico, and its neighborhood. She then contrived to open a cor- 
respondence with the Commodore of the American fleet. She 



(38) 

was carried herself in an open canoe, rowed by two Indians, 
twenty miles to sea in the night, to the Commodore's ship. 
She there furnished him with the plan already prepared ; and 
made arrangements to raise a signal in the town, when the pro- 
per time should arrive for a safe landing. She returned, unob- 
served, and unharmed, and immediately set to work to redeem 
her pledge, to the Commodore. One bright morning, soon after, 
to the utter astonishment and dismay of the Mexicans, she was 
seen on the highest point of the roof of her dwelling-house, 
her arm encircling and sustaining a flag-staff, from which 
floated in the breeze, the American stars and stripes. 

■ In vain the people shouted to her, and threatened her with 
instant death, if she persisted in maintaining her position. 
She replied, in her accustomed calm and collected manner, 
" you can do me but little harm : you can only rob me of a 
few short years of life, by any death you can inflict. I have 
raised this flag of my country over my house, and here it shall 
remain. I have taken my stand under its folds, and it shall 
be my shroud, if I perish upon this roof.'''' And there she 
did remain, until relieved by a detachment of ofiicers and men, 
from the American Squadron, accompanied by her husband. 
The result is well known. The Mexicans became alarmed, 
panic-stricken, and finally fled in all directions. The town, 
was completely deserted, before a single boat had landed. 
Mrs. Chase, alone, had put to rout the inhabitants, soldiers and 
all, and was sole mistress of Tampico. 

For this daring and brilliant exploit, she deserved, and has 
received the highest commendations, the praise and the thanks 
of the people of the United States. The city of New Orleans, 
presented to her, a splendid service of plate. The ladies of 
Cincinnati, sent her a beautiful flag. Others, have honored 
her, by forwarding to her, swords, fire-arms, and even pieces 
of artillery, in token of respect, for this deed of heroism. 

It is almost impossible, to disconnect in our own minds, 
such a female, from all that is masculine, ferocious, and pas- 



(39) 

sionate. Yet, if you should ever have the good fortune to 
meet this lady, you will find her, quiet, modest; and retiring ; 
intelligent, kind and benevolent ; a pious, devoted Presbyte- 
rian, and jnst the last person, one would have selected at first 
sight, for the warlike service in which she was involved. 

It is hardly necessary for me to add, that she is descended 
from the same stock, we have considered so much, to day ; 
that she is one of the very best of that people, who arc ''brave 
as they are gentle, and gentle as they are brave." She is 
Scotch-Irish ; her parents are of Londonderry, on the Foyle, 
and she is related, in no very distant degree, to the noble 
house of the Red Douglas. 

We had, but a few short months since, here, in our midst, 
an eminent and striking example of the high moral and intel- 
lectual qualities, of the Scotch-Irish character, in a female, 
a native of this town. One, whose presence we sadly miss 
now. It is true, she had never endured the horrors of a 
beleagured town, she had saved no fallen prince from an 
untimely death : she had captured no city. No emergency 
ever occurred, connecting her name with any perilous, or 
romantic adventure. She was no heroine, in the common 
acceptation of the term. Hers was a life of calm, quiet, 
steady, but earnest devotion, to one great end and purpose ; 
namely : the moral, religious and intellectual culture of the 
youth, of her time. In this cause she labored and toiled, in 
comparative obscurity, to be sure, for the last fifty years. It 
is, perhaps, praise enough to say, that at the time of her 
death, she could undoubtedly have summoned around her 
more well instructed pupils, than any female of her age, in 
New England. 

There are few natives of Bedford, who came upon the 
stage, since the commencement of the present century, who 
do not remember, with grateful affection, the valuable instruc- 
tion, the kind advice, the pious and excellent precepts and 
example, of A7171 Orr. Who of us, does not feel to-day, 



(40) 

that we should experience an additional thrill of pleasure, if 
we were able once more, to cluster around our kind-hearted, 
strong-minded, and sensible old school-mistress, take her 
by the hand, and ask of her the continuance of the appro- 
bation and the blessings which she bestowed upon us, when 
we were her " boys." 

But this cannot be. She, too, has left us. She sleeps on 
yonder rising ground, never to awake, until all are summoned 
— the teacher and the taught — the master and the pupil — 
the learned and the ignorant — the Avise and the foolish, to 
render a final account to the great Judge, whose name she told 
us to reverence, and whose example she prayed we might 
imitate. 

Presbyterianism, that is, the government of the church by 
elders, and the utter negation of all prelatical power, in eccle- 
siastical affairs, dates very far back. It was found, according 
to Dr. Miller, among the simple-minded Paulicians, in the 
seventh century. It was the church government of the 
Albigenses, and of the Waldenses, including the Bohemian 
Brothers. It can be traced even to the synagogues of the 
Jews, before the Saviour's advent. It has been sustained by 
the most eminent believers in Christendom, By Luther and 
Melancthon and Bucaer, in Germany. By Favel, Calvin, and 
others, in France and Geneva. By Zuingle, in Switzerland. 
By Peter Martyr, in Italy. By A. Lasco, in Hungary By 
Junius, and others, in Holland, and by a decided majority of 
the enlightened and pious friends of the Reformation, in 
England. 

Here, it is comparatively modern and new. We derive it 
from Scotland, its " homestead," in Great Britain, and princi- 
pally, through the Scotch-Irish of Ulster ; although we are 
largely indebted to the Scotch, the Huguenots and the 
Hollanders, for many professors. 

We must not forget, that it first began on this Continent, 
with Francis Mackemie, only one hundred and fifty years ago, 



(41) 

on a narrow strip of land, between the Chesapeake and Dela- 
ware ; that, then, hardly venturing to show its face in the 
light of day, it was seen begging of the Cavaliers of Virginia 
for a license to assert its doctrines ; that it was punished by 
imprisonment in New York, and spurned by the Church of 
England, as "a religion not fit for a gentleman." 

The Separatists, Independents, or Congregationalists, as 
they are now everywhere known, had occupied all the ground 
in New England, long before Presbyterianism made its appear- 
ance. Carver, Bradford, and Standish came one hundred 
years before MacGregore, Cornwell, and Boyd. The "Speed- 
well" had, indeed, been driven back by the tempests of 
the ocean, like the " Eagle- Wing ; " but the " May-Flower," 
had weathered the storms, and brought with her, to om- own 
shores, the representatives of one great division of the puri- 
tans of Great Britain. These men, the "Pilgrim Fathers," 
had established a Spiritual democracy, under the name of 
Congregationalism, a system of church government, which 
originated here, and with them, and which so well accorded 
with the prevailing sentiment of the times, that it was almost 
universally accepted in the New England Colonies. Repub- 
lican Presbyterianism, had, therefore, to seek another field 
for her labor. That field she found in the vast territory of 
the Middle, Southern, and ultimately, of the Western 
and South-western States. The progress and relative condi- 
tion of the two systems, may be learned, very readily, by 
consulting the religious statistics of the country. In 1843, 
there were in the United States, 35S4 Presbyterian churches, 
only 11 of them being in New England, and nine of that 
eleven, in New Hampshire, the other two, in Massachusetts. 
There were 2672 ordained ministers, and probably, 900 licen- 
tiates and candidates; and 279,782 communicants. There 
were, at the same time, stated upon the same authority, not 
far from 1500 Congregational churches ; the Presbyterians 
exceeding them, by two thousand and eighty-four. Of these 
6 



(42) 

fifteen hundred churches, more than one thousand were in 
New England. The number of Congregational ministers was 
about 1350, against 3572 ministers and licentiates, of the 
Presbyterian church, the balance, in favor of the latter, being 
2222. The Congregational communicants are stated at 180, 
000, being nearly, 100,000 less than those of the Presbyteri- 
ans, at the same time. This estimate of the Congregational 
churches and ministers, does not include those, which have 
rejected, what are called, the doctrines of the Reformation, 
better known as Unitarian. The churches of this last descrip- 
tion, are nearly all confined to Massachusetts, where Con- 
gregationalism first began. I believe there is no instance 
where a Presbyterian church has directly and openly adopted 
the faith and forms of Unitarianism. The Federal Street 
Church, in Boston, Avhich was the second Presbyterian church 
ever organized in New England, and which was successively 
under the pastoral care of Morehead and Annin, two zealous 
disciples of Knox and Calvin, might seem to be an exception. 
But the members of that chm'ch voted to change, and did 
change, the form of its government to that of Congregation- 
alism, before it became Unitarian. 

In view of the very imperfect, brief, and hasty sketch of 
the origin, progress, character and success of Presbyterianism 
in New England, and throughout the United States, which 
has been attempted to-day ; who is prepared to estimate the 
value of the labors, the sacrifices, and the sufterings of its 
early founders ? Who does not perceive and acknowledge 
the vast importance of the mission of the Scotch-Irish to 
our shores ? Failing, in their first attempt to reach us, from 
physical causes, altogether above and beyond their control, 
they hastened back upon that " Eagle-Wing," which proved 
too frail to sustain them in the wider trans-atlantic flight, which 
they meditated, not to repair and refit for a second voyage, the 
feeble craft in which they had hazarded theii- lives ; but to 
fit and prepare themselves, their comitrymen and their poster- 



(43) 

ity for the great work ; which although postponed for a time, 
they foresaw, must sooner or later devolve upon them. That 
work was to raise the standard of their religion in the vast 
wilderness of America. Hither, in God's own time, they 
came, bringing with them, what was better than silver and 
gold, their habits of untiring industry, of frugality, and strict 
economy : bringing with them, that unconquerable energy of 
character, which overcomes all opposition ; bringing with them, 
minds enlightened and enriched by the best learning of the 
age, and a religious profession and a faith drawn from the 
bible, and tested by the sutferings and the martyrdom of 
thousands of its converts. With such habits, and with such 
moral and religious principles, they could not fail of success. 
But the length to which these remarks have extended, 
admonishes me that it is time to dismiss the subject, and to take 
my leave. Still, I would linger at the parting, hesitate 
upon the farewell. Standing, as I do, in the midst of the 
friends of my youth, my school-mates, and the playmates of 
my childhood, each face, and each familiar name associated 
with some of the dearest recollections of my life ; I would, 
before we part, gladly recount, Avith you, some of the events, 
and revive some of the scenes, with which we were so familiar, 
in our earlier, younger and brighter days. I would run with 
you again over the green fields to cull the wild flowers, or, 
stray away mto the pastures, to gather the mountain-laurel, 
which blooms upon our native land, as it blooms no where 
else. I would ascend the highest hill, for a broader gaze 
upon the bright horizon which encircles us. I would plunge 
into the forest, or loiter along the meadow-brook, or I would 
launch, with you, the light boat, for a sail upon the clear 
bosom of the ever-flowing Merrimack. Or, we could go 
back, if we would, in imagination, to our childish gambols. 
We could join in the sportive mii'th of a Thanksgiving eve- 
ning, or rejoice in the holy-day pastimes of the General 



(44) 

Election and the Fourth of July. We might revisit the old" 
school-house, and once more con over those, sometimes irk- 
some, but always most important tasks of elemental learning, 
which have so often puzzled and perplexed us. 

Would we not, if we had the time, recall some of the scenes 
of the severe daily toil of our fathers ? We might drive 
"the team afield" again; and even put our hands to the 
plough once more. It would do us no harm. It was the 
honest and healthful employment, by Avhich, they, who 
brought us into life, earned their and our daily bread. Or, in 
the stillness of the sacred Sabbath morning, we might assemble 
at the old meeting-house, and listen to him, who Avas com- 
missioned to bear the message of peace to the upright in 
heart, and denounce with fearful indignation the unrighteous 
and the dissolute. 

We would recross the threshold of the dear old cottage, 
where first the light of Heaven was revealed to our wonder- 
ing eyes, where we were nurtured and sustained by the 

fondness of a father, and where every wish was anticipated, 
and every Avant supplied from that over-flowing fountain of 
kindness — a mother's love— which never fails, but with 
the latest pulsation, and the last breath of her with whom it 
dwells. And would we not, sad and sorrowful as might be 
the duty, repair, once again, to that hallowed spot of earth, 
<' where heaves the turf, in many a mouldering heap," the 
common burial ground of our kindred and our friends ; and, 
kneeling solemnly and prayerfully, around the grave of a 
venerated father, or bending, in unabated grief, over the 
ashes of a sainted mother, should we not find consolation 
in the belief, that their spirits, though released from the body, 
still lingered around, to hold communion with our own, — 
that they may still be the unseen guardian angels, to shield 
and protect us, in all our trials and temptations, while we 
live, and to beckon us on to a happy immortality. 






(45) 

But I am unwilling to ask your further forbearance ; and I 
will only beg leave, in conclusion, using the language of an 
eminent English poet, to repeat a sentiment, to which I am 
certain all hearts will respond, with the most cheerful alacrity. 

" There is a land, of every land the pride. 

Beloved by Heaven, o'er all the world beside ; 

There is a spot of earth supremely blest, 

A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest. 

Here woman reigns : the mother, daughter, wife. 

Strews with fresh flowers, the narrow way of life : 

Around her knees domestic duties meet. 

And fire-side pleasures gambol at her feet. 

Where shall that land, that spot of earth, be found ? 

Art thou a man ? a patriot ? look around ! 

Oh, thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam. 

That land thy country, and that spot, thy home." 



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